Prosecutor calls to execute Mubarak

Published January 5th, 2012 - 15:41 GMT

A prosecutor in Hosni Mubarak's trial on Thursday demanded the death sentence for him and his former security chief

A prosecutor in Hosni Mubarak's trial on Thursday demanded the death sentence for him and his former security chief, saying the toppled Egyptian president had ordered the killings of demonstrators. "The law foresees the death penalty for premeditated murder," prosecutor Mustafa Khater told the court during Mubarak's trial.

On his part, chief prosecutor Mustafa Suleiman said that "the president of the republic is responsible for protecting the people, and the question is not simply one of whether he ordered the killing of protesters, but to know why he did not intervene to stop the violence.

"How could the president of the republic not be aware of the demonstrations that broke out on January 25 in 12 places in several governorates," Suleiman added. He also argued that then interior minister Adly could "not have given the order to fire on demonstrators without having been instructed to do so by Mubarak."

Expanding on that, he said, according to AFP, two interim ministers that followed Adly had testified that the "interior minister does not have the power to give orders to shoot, and that he cannot take such a decision without consulting with the political leadership."